Charles Fowler Opening Remarks: Thank you for coming today. This is a big day at Mossy Creek, and I am grateful that we have the opportunity to introduce you to someone who's going to become such an intrical part of our university family and our football program. When you hear Carson-Newman, like many schools, you think football, but at Carson-Newman, you think great football. You think winning traditions, and you think about a football program that not only wins on the field, but off, because of the impact that it has on those who play here. So, when we began this search, it wasn't just looking for a coach that can win, but looking for a coach that has the heart to bring this program what has built this program. I believe the Lord has given us a fantastic candidate, and I couldn't be more excited about the future of Carson-Newman football. Matt Pope is our athletic director, and he was our point person on this search. I'm going to ask Matt if he will come and introduce the new head coach of Carson-Newman football and let us all enjoy hearing from him for a while.
Matthew Pope Opening Remarks: It's a great day to be an Eagle. We are so excited to be here today to announce our 20th head football coach. I want to thank Dr. Fowler at this time for his leadership and his support throughout this process. I want to thank Vice President's Robert Key and Kevin Triplett for their involvement and engagement in this. It's been a collaborative effort. There's a lot of folks in our staff that helped make today possible, and there's a lot of work behind the scenes, so I'm just very thankful for them and what they mean. They truly embody our Christ-centered mission, and we are so excited. This is the day the Lord has made, and we will rejoice and be glad in it, so I'm just tickled to death. I want to welcome Coach Ingram's family and his wife. We're tickled that he's got his family with us. You all didn't come to hear me, but we were looking for three "C's". We were looking for character, competency, and somebody who could teach and recruit. We wanted somebody who knew this area well. Coach Ingram has his footprint in this area with the Naval Academy, and he knows how to attract a high-level student-athlete who will truly value Carson-Newman education. So, we are tickled beyond belief. I am over the moon excited, and I would like to introduce to you our 20th head football coach, Ashley Ingram.
Ashley Ingram Opening Statement: Thank you, everyone, for the warm reception. Thank you for being here, and thank you for your support of Carson-Newman. Matthew, thank you for this opportunity. Thank you for entrusting me with this football program. Dr. Fowler, thank you for entrusting me with this program. I know what this football program means to each and every one of you. In 1993, I was at North Alabama, and we played Carson-Newman in the second round of the playoffs, so that was really my first introduction to Carson-Newman football. Man, they were good. I think the shadow of Coach Sparks has been following me around campus all day today, but we played them in '93, played them in '94, and we played them again in '95, and we won national championships in all three of those seasons. If Carson-Newman would have beat us, I think they would have won a couple of national championships, so I understand the expectation for this program. I understand what this institution is all about. It's about developing, as Dr. Fowler said, winners on the football field, but more importantly, in life. This is one of the great Christian universities in America, and we want players to come here and to feel that. We want them to leave this place better than they were when they came. So, that's going to be our goal. I want to thank my wife and my kids. As you guys know, to be a coach's wife is a tough job. She's at home raising our kids, so I wouldn't be here today if it were not for them and their influence. My brother is here with his daughter. Our dad coached high school football in Georgia for 43 years. Our dad lost his dad when he was young and grew up in a small rural town. He kind of followed in his footsteps, and his high school football coach kind of became his mentor and father figure, so I know the impact that a football coach can have. Obviously, I want to thank my mom. God has blessed me to be around so many great people. I went to North Alabama and played for Bobby Walllace. Willie Slater was our offensive coordinator, and David Martin was my offensive line coach. They were the best of the best. I went with Coach Wallace to Temple, and I ran into Tim Stowers there. He was the former head coach at Georgia Southern, and he treated me like a son. His impact on me was huge. I went to the University of Rhode Island and coached with him for six seasons, then two years for Tim Landis at Bucknell. I've been at the Naval Academy for the last 16 seasons with Ken Niumatalolo for 15 of them and then Brian Newberry this past year. The greatest leader of men I've been around, Coach Niumatalolo was so good to me and my family, and he showed me the impact that a head football coach can have on the players and the staff. So, I want to bring that kind of program here. Why Carson-Newman? Why leave the Naval Academy for Carson-Newman? I think it's very simple. I was looking for a place that was committed to winning football at a high level. I know that Carson-Newman is. More importantly, I was looking for a place that wanted to affect the hears and lives of the young men that come through that program. I told Dr. Fowler this. I knew at the Naval Academy that if I recruited a young man and he came to the academy and graduated, a lot of times these guys were from kind of low socioeconomic backgrounds. Well, I knew it would change their life. I also knew it would be a generational changer for them. Here's what I know about Carson-Newman. If kids come to this program, we can have an eternal impact on their life, so that's what I am excited about. Other things, I want to hit the ground running. I'm not here to wait until year four to develop. I just talked to the players, and I;m not looking to get my guys in here. When I signed on the dotted line two days ago, all of these players became my guys. We're going to win, and we're going to win now. We're going to do things the right way. This will be all over the building. Adam told me I had to change the orange because it's a little too light. We've got to get really specific with that. Our program mission, our why, is we want to graduate and develop young men of faith and character. Everything we do is going to be centered around that. What are goals are and what we want to do is win the SAC, and we want to win the SAC next year. We want to make it to the national playoffs, and we want to win a national championship. We're going to strive every day to do that. Our culture and how we are going to do these things is going to be based on the foundation of love. Love for God and love for the brotherhood. That's what we are going to call this unit and this team. I think Jesus said that is our greatest commandment, so we're going to build on that foundation. Our team is going to be selfless, and we're going to have a "big team, little me" perspective in everything we do. We're going to play for each other. We're going to be disciplined. We are going to do things the right way on and off the field. At Navy, the entire time I was there, we were one of the least penalized teams in the country, and we didn't turn the football over. We didn't beat ourselves, and we're going to do that on and off the field. The other thing is we're going to be the toughest team in the country. We're going to be mentally tough, and we're going to be physically tough. We're going to do things the right way. At Navy, we said often, if we could be closest team in the country and the toughest team in the country, we could win a lot of football games. We're not going to think too hard about things. We're going to stick to our missions and our goals. If we do those things, we're going to have a lot of victories off the field as well. I am super excited about this opportunity. I'm super excited to be your 10th head football coach. Hopefully, 21 doesn't come around for a while. I'm super excited to follow into the legacy here. We're going to do things the right way, and we're going to have a lot of fun doing it as well.
Q1: I would imagine recruiting for a service academy versus a private Christian university is going to be a very different thing as far as what the kids are planning with their futures. Is that a challenge you look forward to?
I've been at quite a few institutions, and the way I've always approached it is what does the university have to sell. We're going to look at what Carson-Newman has to sell. Recruiting to the Naval Academy is tough. Most kids we recruited did not have the same desire or thought to go into the military. We just showed up and recruited them. It was our job as coaches to make them understand what the Naval Academy could do for their life. I think that is our mission here as we go out and talk to people about Carson-Newman. I think it's going to be on us to let these young men know that this is a life-altering decisions to come here. We'll probably start with football because that's what gets 17 and 18-year olds' attention.
Q2: You talk about Coach Sparks and that shadow. We're obviously in a building named after him, and there's a road named after him. The legacy and impact there is so large in the community. What does that mean to you?
It means I've got big shoes to fill. I welcome that. I'm going to strive every day to do everything I can to make this university proud. I'm not Coach Sparks. I'm Ashley Ingram. I'm going to be the best version of myself. I do know this; I'm going to pour into these kids. I'll pour into this university. You'll get my very best. I told these guys, and my wife might disagree, but I don't have bad days. What you see is what you get. I see every obstacle and every loss as another opportunity to get better and to improve. I'm excited about it, but definitely some big shoes to fil. It is a great tradition here, but that is what I wanted. I've had opportunities to go to other places, but I had not, until this situation, found a place where I could say I'm going to leave the United States Naval Academy for another school. When I said I'm going to leave the Naval Academy for Carson-Newman, that sounded pretty good to me.
Q3: Are you going to base your offense and defense on the guys that you have here to fit? How will we go about working that?
I know what I want to do on offense, but I told the guys a few minutes ago, if you looked at the Navy offense from 2008 to 2016, we did some really cool things. I'll give you some points on it, but to your point, you've got to play to the strengths of your team. If you don't do that, it's kind of being hard-headed. So, we'll do some things, but there'll be enough variety in the offensive system and the defensive system that we'll play to the strengths of the young men. Again, I said I want to win now, so we don't have time to put three or four recruiting classes together to get it exactly like you want. As I said, these young men that are in this program now are my players. They are out players, and we're going to find a way to win with them now. The beauty of what we want to do on offense, as I mentioned to the guy earlier, and Carson-Newman understands this as well, North Alabama understood it for a long time. When I was at Navy, we beat Notre Dame three times. We beat Missouri, Kansas State, Memphis, Central Florida, and Cincinnati. We beat Virginia 49-7 in a bowl game. We didn't have a player playing for us that any of those teams wanted. We recruited two young guys out of Tennessee. Both were about 5'9, and they didn't have much going on. One is Keenan Reynolds. He scored more touchdowns than anyone in the history of college football. He finished fifth in the Heisman, and he was drafted by the Ravens. We're going to find people that other people don't value their skill set because of what we do. Malcom Perry rushed for 2,000 yards in a season. He was drafted by the Miami Dolphins. We're going to find players out there that will come to Carson-Newman and run a system that will give us a chance to compete at a very high level.
Q4: Signing day is so close. That has to be a challenge you are ready to hit the ground running over.
I've already made some phone calls. I was late coming over here and putting my tie on because I had a phone call. We're well on our way to try to get some guys in here that can help us in January.
Q5: Coach, you mentioned that these guys are already your guys. How do you get them to buy into you and trust the vision that you have for this program?
Well, I think trust has to be earned. I think I can talk to them until I'm blue in the face, but hopefully when they have visited with me a few minutes ago, what they saw was genuine. I spoke from the heart. I think we'll just have to work on that daily. I told all of them that I want to sit down when we get back in January. I'd like to sit down with every single player in the program and get to know them. Again, my dad was a coach. We want to be demanding, and we want them to know that we care for them, first as people and then as players. Second, we are going to treat them like they are our own. I think that in due time, if they know that we really care, they will see that. That's not just coach talk. That is from the heart.
